Suffolk Council Approves City's First Cluster Home Development

Driver Village Green Will Have 45 Homes And Day- Care Center

SUFFOLK — The City Council approved on Wednesday the city's first cluster home development over the objections of Driver residents. The council voted 4-3 to approve the proposal.

Councilwoman Linda T. Johnson who represents Driver opposed the development. Johnson asked Driver Development Associates pointed questions about the proposal, questioning everything from whether the homes would be built on slabs to the make-up of the development group.

"We wanted less rooftops, not more," Johnson said referring to the city's reason for passing its year-old growth law. "Bennetts Pasture Road and Driver Lane is not the place for this."

But Councilman Thomas L. Woodward said there was no legal reason for denying the request.

"We are required to be a body of law, not emotion," Woodward said. "What has been proposed is vastly superior to what could have been built without this process."

The proposal known as Driver Village Green calls for building 45 detached single-family homes with 9,000 square-foot minimum lot sizes. The homes will sit on nine acres of a 25-acre tract. Homes will range in size from 1,600 to 1,800 square feet. The development also includes a day- care center, which will look like the homes in the subdivision. The planning commission recommended approving the request on an 11-to-1 vote.

The proposed development off Driver Lane and Bennetts Pasture Road, is the first proposal under the city's year-old growth-control law. The provision allows developers to build houses closer together and on smaller lots than in a traditional subdivision. As a result, the developer must preserve 45 percent of the land for open space.

The developer originally wanted to build 54 cluster homes on six acres, but scaled back plans after residents complained. Residents say the proposal doesn't fit into the rural charm of Driver and they welcome a traditional subdivision with 15,000 square foot lot sizes.

They said that the future could bring problems for the cluster development in which homeowners won't be able to maintain the common areas and the stormwater retention ponds and where already narrow streets are further narrowed by parking cars and boats along the curb because they won't fit in driveways.

"You may think my scenario is farfetched," said Driver resident Frances Craig. "What if I'm correct? To whom will it matter?"

Earlier, the council denied a request by Driver Development to build a day care center on the property. Residents had also opposed that request.

Regina Lightfoot can be reached at 247-4627 or by e-mail at rlightfoot@dailypress.com